Monday, April 18, 2005

Since the Suns's magic number for the 1-seed in the West is 1, it's very likely they'll play the Grizzlies. This will be no cake walk as they split the season series 2-2.

Game 1: 109-102 Home WinWin 10 in an 11-game winning streak to start the year. Typical early Suns scoring 109 with Amare scoring 30 and Nash with 14 assists.

Game 2: 79-88 Home LossLoss 5 in a 6-game losing streak. This was the last game of the streak that Nash was out. They still hadn't learned how to score or play without him.

Game 3: 97-108 Road LossThey won the five games before and the three games after, so this was the first game not in the midst of a streak. The Suns were at full strength for the rest of the game, but the Grizzle were without Gasol and Posey. Nash was ejected with 3 minutes left, whereupon the Griz blew the game open.

Game 4: 97-91 Road WinI believe this is one of two games with both teams at full strength, and the Suns won them both. Win 1 in a 3-game winning streak.

Despite that, I think Joe Johnson is the most important Sun this series.He needs to shut down Mike Miller, allowing the defense to collapse on Pau.He needs to pick up scoring slack that might come from Q's injury or suckiness of late.He needs to pick up scoring slack due to Amare and Marion going against good defenders (Pau and Battier, respectively).